Senior/U20 Event Round Up 19 th February 2024

It feels like no time since we last reported on what our seniors/U20s have been up to, but in the last
3 weeks there has been so much going on up and down the country. Not only have we been
competing on either side of the border, but some of our athletes have been racing ACROSS the
border – we start this week’s report with the X Border Challenge 10k on the 4 th of February which
runs from Carlisle up across the border to Gretna. Jamie Nix posted a big PB, finishing in 30 th overall
(12 th senior man) in 37:36. Training partner Izzy Caufield also crossed the line with a big PB,
completing in 44:19 and 9 th senior lady. Apologies to anyone else running this event that I may have
missed as the results did not show Kilmarnock as a club – let me know if you ran and I will include
you on the next report!

Staying south that weekend, Jennifer Beattie opened her indoor 800m account for the season at the
Sheffield Masters GP meet, finishing 2 nd in her race in 2:34.

Closer to home, Ross Granger was competing in the Glasgow Winter Warmer HM at Glasgow Green.
Ross had a great run in challenging conditions to finish 11 th overall and 5 th V40 in 81:37 – great
running especially so early in the season!

On the 9 th of February, U20 athlete Matthew Monachello was rewarded with a pole vault PB of
3.06m at the GAA Big Splash Pole Vault meet at Tollcross. Thankfully the weather the next day took
a turn for the milder as a team of seniors/U20s travelled to Erskine for the 3 rd and final West League
XC match. First home in 3 rd overall and 2 nd U20 was Jonathon Downey – Jonathon has been super
consistent and competitive at these League matches and it is great to see the future of the club is in
good hands! Connor Scobie was next home in a fine 12 th position and 4 th U20 as the provisional
results stand. I am reliably informed there was a bit of a tussle for the top senior league points
between David Anderson and Nick Carter, with David finding that extra sprint on the day to finish in
43 rd with Nick hot on his heels in 44 th . Murray McDonald was next home in 51 st , with Gary Martin in
his first XC season following in 61 st . Amanda Bryden was 1 st lady home in 68 th overall and 5th senior
lady, with Bethany Ross not far behind in 79 th (6 th senior lady). The U20 men won the U20 section,
our senior men were 5 th overall and our senior ladies won their section. Final results will be
published in due course, huge well done to all our athletes who have turned up for this series – it’s a
great prep for the big one in Falkirk!

We also had athletes venturing further afield this weekend, with Logan Mitchell travelling to
Sheffield to compete in the English Athletics Open U20/U17/U15 champs. Logan threw a PB
equalling 14.53m to secure the silver medal in some very good company – well done Logan.
Even further away, V40 athlete David Sherrington was at Barcelona Half marathon as part of his
spring marathon training. A big PB of 77:33 was good enough for 658 th overall and 70th V40 – great
running David!

The weekend just past has been a really busy one, with athletes descending on Grangemouth for the
4J Studios Scottish Athletics National Indoor Championships – most of whom had qualified to
compete in the previous weeks. The schedule was obviously restricted with events due to the
Emirates being unavailable, but that did not stop our athletes from claiming a great haul of medals
over the weekend as well as some fantastic performances throughout all the age groups. For the
seniors/U20s Matthew Monachello was our first medallist with a silver in the U20 pole vault
(3.04m). In the U20 women’s 60m hurdles, Brooke Dunlop posted a 9.64s run for the silver medal.
On the flat, Douglas Dickson posted his second best ever time in the 60m heats to finish 3 rd in 8.7s.
Age graded qualifying kept him out of the final, but a brilliant run especially so early in the season!

 

On the Sunday, Brooke Dunlop added to her medal collection with a silver in the U20 women’s shot
throwing 9.65m. Laura Mitchell was 5 th in the U20 high jump clearing 1.39m, and Logan Mitchell
took a commanding win in the U20 shot put, throwing 13.84m to comfortably take the gold medal.
On Sunday, a number of our athletes took on the ever popular Hillbilly 10k, now in its 10 th year. It
was a successful day indeed, with Jonathon Downey taking the win in 36:46 and Graeme Quinn
taking 3 rd in 41:03. Katrine Kelly was next back in 6 th overall and 1 st lady in 43:32. Also completing
were Robin Bourne (137 th in 1:02:04), Lynne McCaffrey (140 th in 1:02:20), Jacqui Sandler (155 th in
1:03:45), Erin Buchanan (165 th in 1:04:28 and 3 rd U17) and Andy Taylor (245 th in 1:12:26). Great
running on a really tough course!

Masters athletes Laura Haggarty and Jennifer Beattie travelled to London to compete in the British
Masters Indoor Championships at Lee Valley. The ladies are preparing to travel to Torun for the
European Masters in a few weeks’ time so this was an ideal opportunity for a run out indoors. Laura
retained her national V35 1500m title running a great 4:53.80 in a tactical race and also took silver in
the 800m in 2:20.41 in an exciting finish. Jennifer took the V40 800m title in 2:33.42, and then the
bronze in the 400m with an indoor PB of 66.86.

In the winter league tables, the leaders remain the same on all tables but there is a change in the
men’s top 3, with Murray McDonald now taking 3 rd spot ahead of Jamie Nix. Still a few races to go,
with the big one this weekend at Falkirk! winter 23 24 league

From a bit of an admin perspective we are looking for you to catch up on the following:
– Tickets for the awards night on the 15 th of March – available via link on KH page
– Nominations for Athlete’s Athlete of the Year award – form available on KH page
– Nominations for special awards at awards night – criteria on KH page, emails to Billy
– We will be looking for names for National 4/6 stage relays soon as we did not manage to
field a team last year which is really disappointing! Need teams of 4 women/6 men with half
running approx. 5k and the other half running approx. 10k.
– There is still 1 spot left for a run at the Allan Scally relays – if you want it speak to Jennifer!